As is well known and understood, several methods are employed in identifying the remains of those killed in accidents, disasters, and/or natural and man-made cataclysmic holocausts. If photographs are not helpful, resort is often made to the use of fingerprints as a means of identification--but the problem with that is that those whose fingerprints are on file represents only an infinitesimal number of persons, and the fingerprinting of school-age children is just beginning, although continuing to be met with resistance. Dental records are employed, but only after some idea exists as to the identity of the person sought to be substantiated, and, really, of limited usefulness. While the use of "dog-tags" in the military continues to be a common practice, instances often arise where the "dog-tags" are destroyed, missing, or otherwise not available for purposes of identification.
And, no matter what the above restrictions offer as regards the identification of humans, the identification of animals is a far greater problem. Besides the issuance of license tags--except for photographs of the animals in question, or the availability of other visual indicia--, the only technique usually available involves a process of "branding", limited to race-horses and cattle, in general.
Additionally, more and more in todays world, a problem exists concerning "missing" children whose parents cooperate with Governmental Agencies in an attempt to locate them throughout the country and world by means of various advertising. Photographic means of identification are quite limited in this respect as time goes by, as the features of the child undergo significant changes with time. Although the search for the missing child continues, the chances of success significantly decrease with the passage of the years, and it is only in the rare circumstance that an accidental identification is later made. Such limitation of the use of photographic evidence is also apparent in the detection of terrorists at airport, railroad and bus locations, because of the ease with which one may change his or her appearance to meet the appropriate circumstances. This same limitation exists with respect to "most-wanted" people in general, and their identification usually does not follow until after the fact, i.e., when the person has committed an act sought to be prevented, after apprehension, or through the identification of remains.